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This September marks 25 years since the attacks on the World Trade Center, which changed the course of American life this century. Many people don't know that a piece of history from previous centuries was found in the rubble of the World Trade Center. It dates back to the time when the country was fighting for independence from the British. So, you're looking at the remains of a late 18th century gunboat from the time of the American Revolution. We are almost certain that it was an American gunboat.
We know it was built in the Philadelphia area, and because of the type of wood and the tree rings, we know what date it is from. So, we know that it was built after 1773. And this remnant was found in Lower Manhattan, just south of where the South Tower of the World Trade Center stood. Mike Lucas, curator at the New York State Museum, shared this remarkable find with Inside Edition Digital. It was essentially a floating barge with a cannon. They were about 50 feet long. What you see here is about 34 feet long, so part of it is missing. It had a cannon, several smaller swivel guns, and of course they could hold anywhere from 25 to probably 40
sailors. This is important to our history because if you think about it in 1775, we think this ship was built in 1775. We didn't have a navy. Uh, the capital was in Philadelphia. There was no way to defend Philadelphia, so they built these boats. So this is truly the beginning of the American experiment. This is really the beginning of America, and the other idea here is that this is a part of history that has been completely lost. These are vessels with a shallow draft. You have to remember that at that time the Americans did not have a navy. They needed to put something together quickly that could take to the water and pursue British ships. And they could, and then run aground in shallow water where British warships
couldn't go. So they are very effective in that regard. From the tree rings obtained from dendrochronology tree-ring dating, we know that it was built sometime after 1773. And we know that it ended up in the Lower Manhattan landfill sometime before 1790. So, it's this 15-year period that we're trying to document, and we don't really have any related paper documents, necessarily related to just this particular ship. The ship is believed to have traveled along the east coast of America to the Caribbean and back before being captured by the British.
Eventually, it was used as a landfill for the construction of Lower Manhattan, where the World Trade Center would one day be located. So, they were discovered in 2010 when a construction crew was working on a building called the Vehicle Safety Center. It was located a little south of where the South Tower stood. She was found about 22 feet below the surface. They saw that it was shaped like a ship, and that's when the archaeologists stopped the crew and they were able to get it. Students and researchers from Texas A&M University, as well as archaeologists on site, pulled the boat from the rubble and began the process of reassembling and preserving it.
There are no operating instructions for this ship, so we have to try to collect evidence to find out what the history of its existence was. First, it was buried so deep underground that it was an anaerobic environment, and therefore there was very little oxygen for microbes to attack the wood. So in this environment, wood is quite stable. These are oak, hickory, and also pine. But in that environment, the wood doesn't really have many factors that would damage it, and it's damp. Eventually, the boat was transported to Albany, New York, where it has been on display at the New York State Museum since 2025.
We knew we had gunboats. We knew they existed, but finding this under the streets of Manhattan is truly remarkable, and yes, it serves as a centerpiece of sorts for years to come. Visitors can see the ship for free at the museum, along with things like mastodon fossils, vintage subway trains, Jackie Robinson's baseball bat, and other artifacts from the epicenter of the events. And Mike Lucas is excited about the possibility of new discoveries in the future. There are probably still ships beneath the surface of Manhattan, waiting to be found. And as long as we have archaeologists and statues to help find these things, we'll probably find more. For Inside Edition Digital, my
name is Sal Bono.
